This video was taken a few weeks ago during SDCC but check out one of my head sketches done during conventions. This one is conveniently of Akuma, who's origin book can now be pre ordered from amazon! www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5VZl…

Just recently I've opened up a Tumblr account. I'll be posting a lot of original character ideas and concepts over there. While my deviantart will still contain mostly finished licensed work through udon. But if you're interested in a few original ideas i have kicking around in my head then go over there and check it out! joengart.tumblr.com

So a few of you who follow me on twitter have noticed that I have deleted my twitter account not too long ago. Well I've set up a new one that I'll strictly be using for art related work stuff. Feel free to check it out. I'm planning on updating that as frequently as possible. Thanks guys!

So San Diego Comicon is upon us again and as usual I'll be there with the Udon Crew booth! I normally don't do this but for some reason this year i've been getting a lot of notes from people asking me for commissions in advance. So here's the opportunity to do so!. I already have a bit of a growing list and only a few spots left available for the full body commissions. I'm accepting smaller head shot commissions as well as smaller bust commissions at the convention but since the full body ones take up so much time, i'll only have room for a certain amount. So drop me a note card if you're interested! Also, you'll have to actually be going to the convention to get one, sorry!

Here's how it will work. If i get a note card from you requesting something, i'll put you on the list with an assigned number. I don't actually work on the actual commissions until i'm at the con so hit me up at the Udon booth early and that's when I know that you're there and are able to go through with the transaction. So for example, if you're number 3 on the list, drop by the booth, say hi, and your commission will be started depending on whether #1 or #2 have shown up yet. But if #1 shows up a little later, their commission will be put in priority ahead of yours because they sent me the notecard first. but since you're number 3 you won't lose that 3rd spot in line. make sense? i hope so... even i'm confused now...

the reason i'm doing this is so i don't work on a commission and the person doesn't show up and it's a giant waste of time for me, and that's just unfair to myself as well as the people who do show up!

Here's an example of one of the full body ones:

update: Just to clarify for people, the Udon will be at booth #5073. See you at the show!

Hello my fellow deviant artists! I'll be attending a very special fundraiser event on Sunday April 17 to help raise money to aid relief efforts in Japan. click here: www.facebook.com/event.php?eid… for the facebook event page.

I'm also asking for a favour. Even if you can't make it for whatever reason, if you could pass this along to your own friends that might live in the area and might be interested in coming to the event! Just by spreading the word you're helping enormously! Put it in your own facebook, your twitter, dA, tumblr.. anything to spread the word about this great event for an important cause.

There will be art, music, drinks and you'll be helping raise money! What's not to love about this event?

here is the info:

Artists Help Japan: TorontoTorontos Illustration Community Fundraiser for Quake and Tsunami ReliefAt REVIVAL, 783 College Street, TorontoSunday April 17th, 12 Noon to 12 MidnightFree To Attend  All Agesartistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

TORONTOTorontos Illustration and Artistic Community comes together on April 17th in a 12 hour art-event at Revival. The unique event will raise money to aid relief efforts in Japan following the devastating recent earthquake and tsunami there. Spearheaded by a consortium of Toronto illustration studios, the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event is the local iteration of a charity movement begun by Pixar Art Director Dice Tsutsumi. The Toronto edition will feature live art shows, a silent auction, and dozens of artists and illustrators selling commissioned drawings, with all proceeds benefiting the Canadian Red Cross.

As artists we are tremendously inspired by Japan and Japanese culture, says Bobby Chiu, the illustrator, teacher and founder of Torontos Imaginism studios behind the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event. We were all personally affected by the quake, tsunami, and resulting damage. It is important to give back for all that Japan has given us, and we can think of no better way to do so than with our art.

Artists Help Japan: Toronto will feature more than 24 artists and illustrators from the Greater Toronto Area creating original drawings for 12 hours! This is an unprecedented opportunity for the general public to commission an original drawing from a professional artist and watch its creation in process; the artists fee will be donated entirely to the Canadian Red Cross.

In addition:- Dozens more cartoonists will donate original art, books, and other rare items to be featured in a silent-auction on-site at Revival Bar.- Live art demonstrations from Toronto Illustrators on stage, with the final pieces to be auctioned off live at the event- $1 from the sale of every drink at Revival Bar will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross.

Admission to the ARTISTS HELP JAPAN: TORONTO event is free, and all ages are welcome. The event will run from 12 Noon to 12 Midnight.

ABOUT:

Artists Help Japan is a charity movement initiated by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar Animation Studios, who was also behind 2008 Totoro Forest Project to help preserve Sayama Forest in Japan and Sketchtravel Project, to gather the force of communities of artists and creative minds around the world. We believe artists have special roles to contribute to the society. artistshelpjapan.blogspot.com/

Artists Help Japan: Toronto is spearheaded by Imaginism Studios President and illustrator Bobby Chiu, who was contacted by Dice Tsutsumi to run the Toronto event. Working with Illustrator Alvin Lee, Udon Entertainment CEO Erik Ko, writer/artist Jim Zubkavich, and Christopher Butcher of Toronto comic book store The Beguiling and the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, the team hopes to bring together Torontos diverse and exciting artistic community to engage the public in an unprecedented fundraising endeavour.

All proceeds from Artists Help Japan: Toronto will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, specifically earmarked to aid in Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief. www.redcross.ca/

SPONSORS:

Revival Bar has been entertaining guests, visitors and fans as a premium event space since 2002. Revival has generously donated the use of their main space for the Artists Help Japan: Toronto event, and will be donating $1 from the cost of every drink to the fundraising efforts.www.revivalbar.com/

if you have any suggestions on what i should sketch, feel free to let me know maybe in the future i'll add commentary about my thought process, but right now i put up some music with it so you guys don't get bored hehe

The big San Diego Comic Con is coming up in a week and I'll be there this year! Of course i'll be with the Udon Crew (although from the sound of it it sounds more like the Udon army!). This will be my 4th SDCC that i'll be attending and every year i always feel like i didn't see as much as i would like. So THIS year, along with doing all the con commitments that i need to do, i'm going to try to really take in the experience not only as a professional, but a fan as well!

So here's my question to you guys that are going: What are YOU going to be doing at SDCC. What events are you looking forward to? Are there any exclusive contents/items/swag that you want to purchase? what are they? I'm trying to find the coolest SDCC exclusive this year and bring it home with me. As long as it doesn't cost $34125236... and is smaller than a suitcase.... and i won't get arrested for it when i cross the border....

What sort of things are you guys going to be doing during the nights? Any wicked rad parties to attend? I know every year there's a drink and draw, and those are always fun. so i'm going to have to pick up a little sketchbook for that. I'm not the biggest drinker, but i can definitely compensate with some mad mad drawing yo!

Like every convention, i'll be available for commissions, and signatures are always free. I'm getting excited just thinking about it all! So let me know! Even if you're not going, will you be keeping tabs on all the events? ok that's it for now!

i was given a link from a kind deviant today linking me to a website where i guess people can make t-shirts and sell them on their own. and apparently this guy is taking deviant art work and putting them on these shirts. www.finroo.com/artist_profile.… my little robot snafu was used. anyways, if you have an account with this site, please let the admins know or at least let this sad soul know that we know what he's doing. it's unfortunate that people need to steal art to make a profit from it. ass holes will be ass holes i guess. anyways, make sure you check the guy's shirts to make sure that none of your work, or the work of someone you know is being stolen as well.

UPDATE: i contacted eric yohay of the finroo website and he has taken action to take down the art as well as retrieve the shirts already sold and suspend the user that stole the artwork. by no means is finroo or eric at fault for any of this and it's awesome that they moved as swiftly as they did to get this issue resolved. i have a feeling that more of this person's shirts are stolen from other artists, but it's difficult to figure out what belongs to who. so if you do know, make sure you report it! thanks to finroo and eric for such a quick response and quicker action on the matter!

if you get a note saying something along the lines of "check this out" or "look at these photos" followed by a link to a site.

DO NOT CLICK THAT LINK!

it's spam and it will spread through to your friends accounts as well. i stupidly clicked the link about a week ago so if anyone got one from me, then i apologize. i've changed my password but i'm not sure if that helps.

oh and one more thing. spread the word and let others know about it! or else this is going to keep spreading! it might also help to hide all the comments you get that have these spam links. the fewer people that see it the better!

Hey guys, it's been a while since i've updated, and i totally apologize for that. a combination of work and personal plans all coming together have really filled up all my time so i haven't had the chance to really keep tabs on this site. if you've been keeping tabs on the street fighter comics, the new turbo comic is now out and it looks fantastic! i'll try to put up the variant covers that i did for it as they're previewed on the official udon site. they were really fun to do!

recently, i've gotten a fair share of facebook and xbox live friend requests. and while i really appreciate the adds, i have to respectfully decline them. just to clarify, this isn't a personal attack on those that i've said no to. while things that involve work, like this page and during conventions, i try to be as communicative to people as possible. but when it comes to personal things that include facebook, and my past time activities like xbox live, i generally like to keep it private between me and my family and friends. again, please don't take this personally! i'm generally a very private person in real life and i enjoy what little time off that i have with the people that i'm closest to. i've gotten more than a few underhanded jabs because of this, and i gotta say, that really doesn't help! lol people may not like the fact that i don't add someone that i barely know to a service that holds personal info and pictures of me, but i guess all i'm asking is that people at the very least respect my decision?

The Street Fighter Tribute book soft cover will be out in stores soon and there's going to be a party to celebrate it! if you're in the toronto area and love street fighter, and love parties, then come on down and have some fun! there will be tons of artists there to sign your tribute book as well as a street fighter 2 tournament! all the details including the time, date, location can be found on the official event facebook page here! www.new.facebook.com/event.php…

Past couple weeks have been really busy for me with all the conventions and other stuff. Both Fan Expo and PAX were great conventions and coming one weekend after another has left me very drained and therefore i've spent most of the free time i've had resting and catching up with friends and family instead of keeping the DA updated.

The main reason for this journal is to let people know that Street Fighter Remix #0 is out in comic stores today! For those who don't know what that is, it's the book that features 3 different Street Fighter Stories. One that continues where the last Street Fighter 2 left off with art by the wickedly awesome CHAMBA. One story that starts off the new Chun Li Legends book, with art by the other wickedly awesome OMAR DOGAN. and the last story is a short story featuring a certain Street Fighter 3 grappler with pencils by yours truly, inks by CRYSTAL REID, and colours by ESPEN GRUNDETJERN!

So if you're into the SF books. heck, even if you're not! make sure you go check this out!

next weekend (aug22-24) is the big toronto fan expo. of course i'll be there, being a short 40 minute drive/45 minute train ride away for me. if you're going to this show, stop by and say hi! i'll be in the udon booth #445. you can find a map of the convention centre here: www.udonentertainment.com/stre…

also. i'm looking to fill up my street fighter tribute book with signatures! so if you're in the book make sure you stop by so i can get you to sign my tribute book!

my little web comic imperium is also under way! it looks like updates will most likely happen on wednesday nights/thursday mornings. so check it out if you already haven't: imperium-comic.deviantart.com/ and if you like what you see, don't be afraid to let people know! i'm always down for some pimping!

Hey guys! So the other day i was chatting it up with and he was working on his awesome aardehn comic www.aardehn.com/ and that really got me thinking. I've had this idea for a comic for years now and i never got a chance to really get it going. i was really impressed at how eric was able to just go and start working on his creation his way, and on his schedule. so it really inspired me to actually start my idea that's been in my head since college! also seeing Jim Zubkavich www.makeshiftmiracle.com/ and Matt Moylan www.lilformers.com/ with their online comics (Jim even put it out in book form!) added fuel to the fire!

so i went ahead and made a dA account for the comic and have posted the first strip! I've already got the second strip drawn out, i just need to add the dialogue. eventually i'm going to get an actual website up for it, but for now dA will be it's home.

so check it out if you can, i'm always open to feedback. just make sure you read the journal on that dA page first!

So i just got back last night from san diego and boy was it tiring! the whole week flew by but i'm glad to be home to relax for the next couple days. i appreciate all the friends and fans that went out of there way to find the booth and say hi. i love meeting and chatting with people in person opposed to reading text on a computer monitor. if all those people hadn't stopped by, i wouldn't even know where to begin to find them! i took a bunch of pictures but they're not quite up yet so here is a link to jim zubkavich's sdcc gallery!: www.facebook.com/album.php?aid… also had a blast with the udon crew. crazy fun moments that still make me laugh when i think about it.

thanks guys for making another SDCC fun as always!

i got a chance to play street fighter 4 for a little bit and i have to say, it's REEAALLY fun! i can't wait to pick it up for my 360! omar dogan and i shared an elevator with stan lee!! that was pretty surreal. he's easily the nicest guy in the business. very approachable and always with a smile on his face! it's too bad the elevator in our hotel is so freaking fast, or else i would have tried to talk to him more!

also, i might be a bit late on this, but i was totally floored after watching the dark knight last week. best super hero movie. ever. heath ledger was amazing and it's so sad that such a talent is not with us anymore. the whole movie was just so frantic and crazy. intense from start to finish!

now i'm going to go and chill for the next couple days! maybe i'll put up some sketches!

So the big SDCC is upon us again! As always, i'll be with the Udon Crew.

for those who are going and want to stop by, you can find the map of the con and our location here: www.udonentertainment.com/stre…we'll be selling a whole whack of goodies including the street fighter tribute book, prints of some of the artwork in the book, as well as the new Street Fighter Remix #0! the return of street fighter to american comics! let's not forget me along with a whole handful of other udon artists will be there for sketches and commissions! Go to the Udon deviant art page to see all the info!

A lot of you already know that i'm never shy to pimp out my friends. Not too long ago a buddy of mine Marcus just signed up to deviant art! he needs some super hero loving eyes to glance to his direction because his stuff is so fresh and so clean!

Marcus:

for those who don't know, Marcus is currently working for Aspen and pencilling the soulfire book!

I woke up this morning and logged onto my computer going through my regular cycle of websites when i click on the first comic news site on my favourites list i see in bold "Michael Turner passes away at 37". my mouth practically dropped to the floor as i read the headline over and over to make sure it was real. i knew that he was still battling cancer but for some reason i never thought he would pass away so young because of it. the comic community loses another great inspirational artist.

while i admit that i was never the biggest fan of his art, i was never shy to say that he was a great person. i met him only once back in 2003, back when i was working with the now defunct dreamwave. my boss pat at the time introduced me to him and michael was nothing but friendly and open to talking to me. i was still very new to the industry back then and meeting an artist of his caliber was so exciting as he spoke to me like we were already good buddies. i never got a chance to talk to him again after that. he was always busy at other conventions that i saw him at and i don't think he even remembered who i was, but i'll always remember him as the first A-list comic pro that didn't treat me as another comic fan-boy.

Some of you may have him already on your watch list, and some of you may not, but a fellow Udon artist and inspiration of mine Joe Vriens is now open for commissions! if any body is looking to purchase some awesome work from an awesome artist, they should give him a shout! even if you're not interested in getting a commission, at least check out his wicked gallery!

Joe Vriens -

in other news:

i've been extremely busy lately and have neglected this account once again. usually if i'm not working i'm spending time with family and friends or enjoying the wonderful weather we've been having. we can't live our whole lives holed up in a studio workspace right?? San Diego is a month away and i'm really looking forward to going back this year. it will actually be one of the first conventions i'm appearing in in 2008 which is a bit odd because usually it's one of the last of the year for me. but due to work and other obligations, i was unable to attend cons that were scheduled earlier.

i've also recently purchased a new laptop. my old computer was chugging pretty badly to the point where i couldn't use my web browser and use photoshop at the same time. now i've got a nice little toy to play with that has at least enough memory to let me use the graffiti application on facebook! ha!!

speaking of facebook, i've been receiving a bunch of facebook requests from people that i don't recognize. if you're one of them and i've rejected your request, please don't take it personally. i only add people that i know personally and have actually had a lengthy conversation with at one point in my life. oh and co workers too. what can i say, i can't let people i don't know have access to all the scandalous pictures i have up! (i kid)

ok that's all for me. i'll keep you updated on anything else that's going on in my journal. i can't really promise any new gallery stuff anytime soon, but i'll try?